


Sectatores Heira

by OrionAWD



Category: No Fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 08:10:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16013858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrionAWD/pseuds/OrionAWD
Summary: A semi-historical, fantasy AU. Essentially the background and lore for my not-pirate characters. It's gradually becoming more of a story than just little scattered bits of info can contain, so story it becomes.Please note, there is a disclaimer at the beginning. I ask you to read that before you read any of the actual story, so that you will be aware of what content you may come across.





	1. Disclaimer

Throwing this up front, right at the beginning. If you choose to not read it, your own damn fault. I am including this disclaimer for the sole purpose of warning readers about potential content they may not want to read. Do not take any of this content as proof or fact that I personally approve of these actions.

This story is rated Mature (possibly Explicit in future) for good reason. It takes place circa 1700s (give or take). Although an AU, similarities to actual events and persons will take place. I may also mish-mash some events from other times. This is deliberate. As such, you may find the following events referenced in my story:

  * Slavery and the slave trade
  * The Inquisition, the Crusades, Witch Hunts/Trials
  * The "rehabilitation" and "relocation/rehoming" of Native Peoples
  * potentially more as the story evolves



Additionally, the following triggering elements/scenes may take place:

  * Abuse/torture/torment, including mutilation and death
  * Non-Con/rape, including underage
  * Inappropriate language and slurs related to gender, race, religion, etc.
  * Suicide or mentions of suicide or self harm
  * potentially more as the story evolves




	2. Foreword

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Although I will touch on some of the information below in the story itself, I thought I might include a brief rundown on certain biological differences between fur and furless, as it relates to my AU and story. Some of this information may be considered spoilers/spoilerish, so if you want to skip this part, it's fine. The information here is strictly for quick reference, and whatever is vital to the story, will be relayed as needed in the natural narrative.

The fur people naturally live a shorter length of time than furless Life expectancy, under the best of conditions, with no intervention from magical sources, tends to only be around 30 years. 35 to 40 years would be considered extraordinary. As such, they tend to mature faster. Pregnancy generally lasts 3-5 months, though those fur with more furless blood may have a longer gestation. While litters are not uncommon, usually there are only 1-2 children, though it is not unheard of for up to 5 or 6 to be born in a litter. Children need to remain with their mother generally until they are 1-2 years old, the rough equivalent of a 5 year old furless child.

They reach physical (sexual) maturity between the ages of 5 and 10. Adulthood is sometimes recognized when a female child has her first heat, though emotional maturity plays a much larger part, for both genders. Typically, when a child recognizes that it is time for them to grow up and accept responsibility for themselves and their actions, they are recognized as an adult.

Female fur tend to have a heat cycle regularly, anywhere from twice a year to once a month. The regularity depends highly on the amount of furless in their lineage, with more frequent cycles happening with higher furless blood content. Fertility during the cycle is also related to the amount of furless blood, with a higher amount of fur blood limiting fertile periods to the duration of the heat cycle.

Mates are chosen solely on compatibility and affection between the pair, gender and sexuality have very little, if anything, to do with it. It is therefore not uncommon to have same gender pairings, or even multi-partner mateships, so long as all involved are comfortable with each other. There is almost never a large ceremony among furs, simply an announcement before the community. Tokens might be exchanged between the newly mated pair, and the community will usually give them anywhere from a night to a week undisturbed to bond, leaving gifts for them and their new life. Mateships generally tend to be a lifelong bond. Being separated from a mate is very difficult, and should one of the pair die, the other usually follows shortly thereafter, even with a strong support system in place.

Furs are very family oriented. It is not uncommon for close friends to be considered family, and even called such. Orphaned children are fairly uncommon, and will quickly be adopted by any family who wishes to care for them. Couples who cannot naturally bear children of their own might be approached by a couple who is willing to birth a child for them. In the very rare instance that a family feels they cannot raise their own children, the entire community will join in to assist, whether it be supporting the family to keep them together, or adopting the children to ease the burden. Such adoptions are always open, and considered a joining of the families rather than a surrender of the children. It is never looked down upon to ask for help.


	3. Prologue

_Imagine a world very similar to our own. It was created the same way. It warmed and cooled the same way. It evolved almost the same way. On this world, there was power. And that power, caused things to change._

_Before what we would call mankind walked the earth, there were animals of all kinds. They lived throughout the lands and the seas, and they lived in tune with the elements around them, the Water, the Winds, the Earth, and the Flame. All living things respected these elements, and as such they were respected by the elements._

_Gradually, some of the creatures began to change. They began using sounds unusual for their species. They began to walk upright, on two legs rather than four. They began using tools. They began recording their history. These creatures became known as Furs. Despite their differences and adaptations, the Fur people still retained their close ties to their origins, especially the love of the world around them, and the powers that filled it._

_All Furs have a connection to one of the elements. Usually it can be felt at the time of their birth, and usually, though not always, matches one of their parents' elements. Most Furs can also feel, or hear, the "Songs", the miasmic swirls of their element that surround everything. The Song is comforting, it reminds Furs that they are part of a greater whole than just themselves._

_Among the Fur people are those with a strong affinity for their element. These Fur can not only hear the Song, they can speak it themselves. Called Speakers, or Singers, they can communicate with the element they are aligned with, to call upon it in time of need, or simply communicate with it, to determine what they should do, or how a situation should be handled._

_More powerful still than the Speakers are Shamans. These Furs can not only hear the song of their aligned element, but the songs of all the elements. Even greater than that, they can Speak to all of the elements as well. Shamans are usually recognized early on, as the magic surrounding them causes changes in their appearances, giving them traits unusual to their species._

_Additionally, almost all Shamans grow a set of horns or antlers. The type varies individual to individual, and is not linked to the individual's birth sex or their gender. No one is entirely certain why Shamans grow antlers, but it is known that they help to focus their magic powers, and many use their sheds to create powerful tokens or talismans. Breaking or damaging their antlers can cripple a Shaman's power, or worse, twist it in ways that are dark and cursed._

_Having these powers does not make any Fur omnipotent though; not even the most powerful of Shamans dare command the elements to do their bidding. Nor can they see the future, for it is always changing, and even the elements may choose to keep their thoughts to themselves. They guide their children, but they do not handhold them, despite what wishes and pleadings they might receive._

_Being in tune with the world around them, the Fur race lived in peace with their world. They hunted what they needed to survive, planted to replenish what they used, and lived as one with the life around them. But all good things must end._

_A strange new race had been gathering a foothold, and spreading out across the world. This race seemed ill prepared for the land around them, with barely any fur to speak of, senses so dulled they might have not even been there, and worse still, they seemed deaf to the songs that lived in everything around them. They hunted and pillaged the lands, digging great holes into the earth and cutting vast swaths through the forests._

_The Fur people mourned with their world, but they could not turn against these Furless, for certainly they too were the children of the world around them? And Fur do not harm other Fur, not unless grave injustice has been done. But the Furless it seemed, held no such qualms, and a great darkness fell over the world._

_For as the Furless grew stronger in their own way, and began spreading into lands where Fur had lived for generations, it became apparent that the longer lived Furless had no intention of sharing the world peacefully with their shorter lived Fur counterparts. The Furless people intended to take what they claimed was theirs. And they claimed everything as theirs._

_Everything, and everyone._


End file.
